A high-level delegation of the European Parliament, which travelled to Ukraine amid the current security crisis, concluded its visit on Tuesday. Nine members from the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Security and Defence Subcommittee, led by Chairs David McAllister (EPP, DE) and Nathalie Loiseau (Renew, FR) met with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the Speaker…
Foreign Affairs
Murky Waters – The Black Sea and European Security
A report published on Wednesday offers a way out of the crisis between Russia and the West over Ukraine’s future if all sides are willing to settle for less than their maximum demands. In “Murky Waters – the Black Sea and European security”, Paul Taylor, senior fellow at the Brussels think-tank Friends of Europe, outlines a…
Coup in Burkina Faso
ECR MEP Assita Kanko has reacted to news of the coup in her native country, Burkina Faso. “President Kaboré has been arrested by the army, my contacts in Burkina Faso have confirmed. I am holding my breath. Jihadists, a weakened army and a desperate government threaten the security of everyone on the ground. There has been…
Political Unity and Resolve to Support Ukraine
“Unity and resolve, that’s what we expect from our Ministers of Foreign Affairs who will today discuss the situation around Ukraine. The country, whose citizens went onto the streets and died fighting for the European future of their country, cannot be turned down by cold pragmatism. We expect the European Union to show its strength…
EU Stands With Ukraine
President von der Leyen has issued the following statement on EU financial support for Ukraine “Last Friday, I spoke with President Zelensky to assess the situation in Ukraine created by Russia’s aggressive actions. We discussed how the EU could continue to support Ukraine both in the immediate and medium term. As ever, the EU stands…
Threats to the EU from Autocratic Regimes
MEPs finalised 18 months of inquiry by the INGE committee and adopted its final recommendations. The European public and government officials are “overwhelmingly” unaware of the severity of the threat posed by foreign autocratic regimes, in particular Russia and China, MEPs say in the text. Insufficient defence made it easier for malicious actors to take over…
Counter China’s Devious Human Rights Propaganda
Both the United States and the European Union have taken belated steps to counter China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” a vast project by which China is forging coercive economic and political ties with small and weak states, and attempting to induce Western democracies to accommodate a China-led world order, writes Aaron Rhodes. But they and…
High Level Parliamentary Delegation to Ukraine
Foreign Affairs Committee and Security and Defence Subcommittee MEPs will travel to Ukraine from 30 January to 2 February to gather information on the current crisis. A high-level delegation of eight MEPs, led by the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Security and Defence Subcommittee Chairs David McAllister ( EPP, DE) and Nathalie Loiseau (Renew, FR),…
Call to Release Khaleda Zia
The EU has been urged to intervene in the case of a former Bangladeshi PM who claims to be under house arrest in the country, despite being seriously ill. Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the…
EU-Russia Trade Dispute on Wood Products
The EU is requesting consultations with Russia at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning export restrictions placed by Russia on wood products. The export restrictions consist of significantly increased export duties on certain wood products and a drastic reduction in the number of border crossing points through which exports of wood products can take place….